A visibly thrilled and emotional Michael Clarke said the 5-0 whitewash against old nemesis England was an apt reward for all the efforts that his team put during the winter's Ashes in England. Australia had lost the first of two Ashes series this calendar year by a 3-0 margin in England, but came back in an emphatic manner to blank the visitors by a 5-0 margin in the return series, only the third time that they had completed series whitewash against England.

'It's an extremely special occasion for me. First and foremost, the support we got from Australia has been unbelievable. Thanks for all the support we got from everyone it's been fantastic. Probably not 5-0, that's for sure (when asked, before the start of the series, if his side thought they could win the Ashes). I think, I kept saying throughout the England series, they the boys will get their rewards for the effort they have put in behind the scenes. But it's just that it has taken a bit more time and I think this result is a great reward for all the efforts," he said.

Heaping praise on his outstanding bowlers, Clarke said there were one of the best if not the best bowlers going around the world right now. "I had a brief conversation to the bowlers and I remember saying these three are the best bowlers in the World right now and Lyon certainly complements them. I think we've got the best attack in the world now," he felt.

Clarke had a word of consolation to the vanquished skipper and his team. "Alastair and England against England that's not been tough. They've played extremely well. They've got a bit of criticism in this series but they deserve the credit. They are a wonderful team. They've been number one before for no reason," he said.

Losing captain, Alastair Cook was humble in his praise of the Australians and apologized to his countrymen for their pathetic performance."'It's obviously very tough to be beaten in all five games that you've played. As a sportsman that's the hardest thing to take but at the end of the day we weren't good enough. Yeah, I mean, obviously we weren't good enough to turn it around. We tried to do our bit but credit to Michael and his boys for their show. They thoroughly deserved to win 5-0. When you hit the rock bottom, the only way is up. This happened to us in 2006, things turned around with a lot of hard work. We'll have to see where want to be, reassess and come back stronger. I just want to thank all our supporters. Sorry, we've let you down but thanks everyone for all the support", he said.

Ryan Harris, who ended with match figures of 8/61 was deservedly named as the Man of the Match. He said that while it was an unbelievable turnaround, the team did feel they could win by a 5-0 margin.'It has been a great turnaround. We knew we were quite close in England but to come here and win 5-0 in just amazing. I did believe that we could win this series 5-0. We did very well as a team. We are a close group, especially the bowlers. We help each other out and ensure that we execute the plans".

Harris also hoped his Test performances would not go unnoticed when the selectors sit down to name the ODI squad. "It's up to the selectors now to pick me for the ODIs. I am happy with my performances at this moment", he concluded.

With as many as 37 wickets from the 5 Tests, it was no surprise that Mitchell Johnson was named as the player of the series, edging out compatriot, Brad Haddin for the Compton-Miller medal. He said it was a moment he would cherish for the rest of his life.

"That's something I want to cherish for the rest of my life. Yeah, it's very special. Very, very happy. We didn't expect to be 5-0 up here. I would like to thank the crowd, the families and my wife for all the support. They tried to take me out of the game but that's just part of the game (with regards to Barmy Army's taunts). I think they way we started the series, where all went to plan, we started aggressively, that's where it started to happened and we are a very happy bunch. Haddin is definitely an old man. He's comeback really well and like I said, we did really well as a team," he said.

Cricket Australia High performance director, Pat Howard has candidly admitted that he took a back-seat and allowed Darren Lehmann, the coach of the Australian team to implement his ideas during the recently concluded Ashes series.